Feed beam for a mangle



Dec. 10, 1968 A. H. PETTERSON 3,414,996 v FEED BEAM FOR A MANGLE Filed Aug. 26, 1965 United States Patent 3,414,996 FEED BEAM FOR A MANGLE Adolf Helmer Petterson, P.O. Box 11005, Bromma 11, Sweden Filed Aug. 26, 1965, Ser. No. 482,862 Claims priority, application Sweden, Sept. 11, 1964,

10,876/ 64 9 Claims. (Cl. 38143) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A feed beam to facilitate the introduction of laundry into a mangle. The beam includes a suction chamber with an upper perforated wall which is formed in a onepiece aluminum body. The aluminum body includes .a cylinder which houses a piston. A yoke in the cylinder slidably mounted on the body is acted upon by said piston to displace the yoke and a peg connected thereto. The peg includes a movable member which is turnable on a shaft and is operative to clamp an article of laundry between the movable member and a fixed part of the peg at a location adjacent the upper perforted wall.

The present invention relates to feed devices which facilitate the introduction, into a calender or mangle, of laundry such as sheets, bedspreads or the like and also of articles of smaller dimensions such as towels, napkins or the like.

In such feed devices, a beam arranged above the feed board of the mangle is used, which beam is displaceable from a taking-up front position to a laying-down rear position in which the laundry articles are laid down on the feed board of the mangle. The mechanism for moving the beam from its front position, in which the laundry articles are placed on the beam with their front edge stretched, to the rear position can be of various constructions and is of no special interest in respect to the object of the invention. It is, however, of the greatest importance that the feed beam made with a low net weight owing to its forward and backward movement,

and that it be provided with means for retaining the laundry articles along the total length of the beam as well as along parts of the same.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved beam structure of a type comprising means for displacing a clamp or peg .along a beam used for spreading laundry articles, said peg being adapted for stretching the front edge of a sheet or the like, as well as means for retaining the said front edge stretched during the stroke of the beam while it is moving from a taking-up front position to a laying-down rear position as will be explained in greater detail hereinafter.

The invention is characterized in that said beam is provided with a suction chamber connected to an evacuating device, the chamber having a wall in which perforations are arranged to achieve the suction eifect, and onto which wall an edge of each laundry article is placed in stretched condition, the same suction chamber being integral with a pneumatic cylinder to form a single unit and in which cylinder a piston connected to the aforesaid peg is movable along the beam for spreading laun dry articles over the beam.

In the accompanying drawing, an embodiment of the invention is illustrated, by way of example, in the sole figure which is a cross sectional view of a beam structure provided in accordance with said embodiment.

Said beam structure is preferably made of aluminum or other light metal pressed into a bar, which is cut into the desired length according to the width of the feed board of the mangle, the bar being provided with end pieces.

The said bar consists of a bottom plate 1 connected to a cylinder 2 and is provided with a slightly inclining upper wall 3 provided with perforation holes 4. The bottom wall 1 and the upper wall 3 along with a portion 5 of the cylinder wall define a suction chamber 6 which, in a manner known per se, is connected to an evacuating device by means of a flexible duct. The two end portions of the cylinder 2 are likewise connected to the evacuating device in order to displace a piston 7 in the cylinder.

The piston 7 is, by means of a yoke 8, secured to a thin member 9 which extends outwardly through a longitudinal slot 10 in the cylinder wall 2 and which outside the cylinder, is attached to a yoke 11 carrying a peg 12. The yoke 11 is guided by a square flange 13 fixed on the cylinder wall 2 and extending lengthwise along the total length of the cylinder adjacent the slot 10.

The peg 12 has a movable part 14 and a fixed part 15. The movable part may be turned on a shaft 16 in order to clamp, for example, a corner of a sheet (not shown) to the part 15.

By means of valves, the peg 12 can be displaced from one end of the cylinder 2 to the other end, while the edge of the sheet retained by the peg 1 2 is entrained and pulled along over the perforated wall 3 of the suction chamber 6, the related edge portion being guided by hand. The other corner of the front sheet edge is lodged on the wall 3 in a stretched state, a vacuum then being caused in the suction chamber so that the sheet edge is sucked against the wall 3 and retained on the same in a stretched state.

While the sheet edge is retained by the beam between parts 14 and 15, the beam is by means of any conventional mechanism brought from its taking-up front position to its laying-down rear position adjacent the mangle rollers. When the beam has reached this latter position, the vacuum is cut 01f from the suction chamber 6 and the peg is brought to its open condition by turning movable part 14 on shaft 16. The beam is moved a short distance further in the same direction, so that the front edge of the sheet slides off the wall 3 and falls down onto a conveyor belt (not shown) associated with the feed board, where the sheet edge preferably by means of a roller brought down from-above is pressed against the conveyor belt to bring the sheet in under the mangle rollers.

From the above, it is clear that the feed beam according to the invention can be made with an extremely low weight without neglecting its strength. Due to the walls in the suction chamber and the cylinder wall 2, a very good reinforcement of the total beam structure is achieved. The beam, further, can be made at a comparatively low price since all the parts necessary for its operation can be formed in a press molding operation.

If desired the peg 12 can be arranged for pneumatic operation, in which case the evacuating device of the arrangement can be used. Thus the peg can be brought to open condition by means of an operating cylinder mounted on the yoke 11, so that the peg by means, for instance, of a pedal controlled valve may be opened at any desired position of its travel along the beam. Like-wise the move ment of the piston 7 can be adjusted by means of a pedal controlled valve and the suction effect of the suction chamber 6 be controlled by the same pedal, for example in such a manner that, with the pedal moving downwards, the one end portion of the cylinder 2 is connected to the evacuating device and, with the pedal moving upwards, the suction chamber is connected to the evacuating device, while the cylinder is disconnected.

The wall 3 of the suction chamber is on its outer face provided with, projecting portions between the perforation holes 4. The said portions may comprise longitudinally extending rubber strips 17 or rubber studs in order to achieve a greater surface: friction. The holes 4 should preferably be relatively small, so that the required retaining effect is also attained in those cases in which the wall 3 is only partly covered by laundry articles.

There now be obvious to those skilled in the art many modifications and variations of the above structure. These modifications and variations will not depart from the scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A feed beam adapted for use with a mangle and comprising an elongated structure defining a longitudinally extending suction chamber and a longitudinally extending cylinder and provided with perforations communicating with said suction chamber whereby an article of laundry can be sucked against said elongated structure, a piston in said cylinder, and gripper means external of said structure and connected to said piston and longitudinally displaceable by the latter along said structure to stretch said article of laundry over said perforations.

2. A beam as claimed in claim 1 wherein said structure includes a cylindrical wall constituting said cylinder and including a portion partially bounding said suction chamber, and first and second angularly related walls cooperating with said portion to define said suction chamber, said first wall being provided with said perforations.

3. A beam as claimed in claim 2 wherein said walls are collectively of a one-piece construction.

4. A beam as claimed in claim 2 wherein the cylindrical wall is provided with a longitudinal slot, further comprising a thin member extending through said slot and :onnecting the gripper means and piston.

5. A beam as claimed in claim 2 wherein the perforations are aligned in rows comprising rubber members on said first wall between the rows of perforations.

6. A beam as claimed in claim 4 comprising a guide flange on said elongated structure, said gripper means including a yoke connected to said thin member and displaceable along said flange, a rod on said yoke, and relatively fixed and movable parts on said rod to clamp said article of laundry therebetween.

7. A beam as claimed in claim 2 comprising means to displace said elongated structure transversely to the longitudinal axis thereof, exhaust means coupled to the suction chamber to cause suction through the perforations, and control means coupled to the cylinder to operate the piston.

8. A beam as claimed in claim 2 wherein said structure is of a one-piece body of aluminum.

9. A beam as claimed in claim 6 wherein said rod is a shaft, the movable member being turnable on said shaft.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,635,370 4/1953 Mann et 'al 38143 2,976,625 3/1961 Bazelmans 382 3,136,081 6/1964 Fredholrn 38-443 3,174,238 3/1965 Grantham 38143 JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primaiy Examiner.

G. V. LARKIN, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 27 l63 

